Monday, July 10, 2006

A Question for Readers of Independent Weeklies

Does anyone out there understand the comic "Shoehorn Technique"? I'm mystified. This article has some information that only further confuses me:

Titled “Shoehorn Technique”, the weekly strip will lightheartedly “examine the various mechanisms that people use to move in and out of different socio-cultural circles for the sake of variety, or perhaps out of boredom,” according to [author Ben] Katchor.

Apparently the author was the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award. One of my fellow Reader readers is apparently very enthusiastic:

His new weekly strip, SHOEHORN TECHNIQUE, is fantastic--it's the best comic of the year so far (for me). Katchor is among the funniest of cartoonists, but I think he's also one of the few cartoonists who's funny in a profound way, where the humor is also insight. The strip been running in the Chicago Reader for a few months, and elsewhere. The format (three tiers) should make for a very nice book collection, if there is one.

Another participant in the same thread says:

Katchor is definitely underrated -- which in this case means that he already has a pretty big rep but he might even be better than that. I don't know how many cartoonists out there have really invented their own whole new mode of humor, but it seems like he has done that.